Parties Rush To Select Hundreds Of General Election Candidates

Rishi Sunak's decision to hold a general election in early July has triggered a rush across all political parties to find the remaining candidates to contest constituencies nationwide, and the number still runs to the hundreds.

Up until Wednesday when Sunak confirmed a 4 July vote, Westminster had settled into an assumption that the Prime Minister was more likely to wait until the autumn before going to the polls.

As such officials across the political spectrum believed they were likely to have months left before needing to finalise their lists of people to stand for them in seats across the country.

The exact number of candidates still to select in the coming days remains uncertain but PoliticsHome understands that Labour, which is the strong favourite to win on 4 July, has up to 100 to select, while the Conservatives have the best part of 200 still to confirm. 

Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) hopes to have all candidates in place in a fortnight's time, PoliticsHome understands.

There will potentially be tension between local Conservative party associations, many of which would prefer to select candidates from their areas, and figures in Tory central command who want to put forward government figures including Downing Street advisers, also known as spads, to stand in safe seats. One party source said they expected “pushback to the centre” from some local association chairs if asked to accept candidates drawn from Westminster.

Labour is believed to be working to a similar timeline on candidate selection and they too will have tensions to contend with. 

PoliticsHome understands that the remaining general election candidates will be selected by Friday, 31 May. General secretary David Evans has told members of Labour’s